The Federal Reserve has economic and political headaches

WHEN, a year ago, the Federal Reserve raised interest rates for the first time since the financial crisis, it did not intend to dilly-dally. Rate-setters pencilled in four more rises for 2016. In the end it took until this week for the Fed to lift rates again, to a target range of 0.5-0.75%. The delay reflected both a wobbly world economy and the Fed’s realisation that the structural forces keeping rates low, such as slow productivity growth, are more powerful than it had previously thought.